Fuseboard Replacement in Nottingham, fitted, tested and certified in a day.

Service overview

What "Fuseboard Replacement" actually means in Nottingham.

A fuseboard replacement — properly called a consumer unit upgrade — swaps the box that distributes power around your home for one built to the current 18th Edition wiring regulations (BS 7671 Amendment 2). Modern boards have a metal enclosure for fire containment, surge protection, and an RCBO per circuit so a fault on one socket ring doesn't kill power to the whole house.

Most upgrades in Nottingham fall into one of four buckets: BS 3036 rewireable fuseboards from the 1970s, plastic Wylex 'standard' boards from the 1980s, split-load consumer units from the 2000s with shared RCDs (the most common upgrade we do today), and damaged units after a fault or water ingress.

The trigger is usually external — an EICR has flagged it as a C2 or C3, an EV charger installer has refused to wire onto the existing board, or a home insurer has asked for evidence of compliant protection at renewal.

The honest bit

What goes wrong with old fuseboards

Old plastic consumer units are now coded C2 ('potentially dangerous') on most EICRs because, in the event of a sustained internal fault, they melt rather than contain. The 18th Edition response was metal enclosures throughout — and that is now what every insurer expects to see.

BS 3036 rewireable fuses (the ones with fuse wire across a porcelain carrier) are more dangerous still — they offer no earth fault protection and rely on the homeowner replacing fuse wire correctly. We still find them in Nottingham every month, usually in homes that haven't changed hands since the 1970s.

The wrong fix is downgrading or bypassing protection so the new board doesn't keep tripping. If the board trips when energised, the cabling behind it has a fault — that fault must be found and corrected, not hidden under a bigger MCB. We refuse to do this and so should anyone you'd want in your home.

How we deliver it

Our fuseboard replacement process, step by step.

1. 1. Pre-work test

   We test every circuit on the existing board — insulation resistance, continuity, polarity. Anything that fails is identified before we energise the new board.

2. 2. Isolate at the cut-out

   We isolate at the meter cut-out (with DNO permission where required), discharge the supply and remove the old board.

3. 3. Install new 18th Edition unit

   Metal enclosure, surge protection device, dual RCD or full RCBO depending on spec, neatly dressed and labelled to BS 7671.

4. 4. Re-terminate, energise, retest

   Each circuit is re-terminated to torque, full live testing — earth fault loop, RCD timing, polarity — and a new circuit chart fitted.

5. 5. Certify & notify

   Electrical Installation Certificate issued same day, NICEIC building control notification posted out within 10 working days. Done.

Why it matters

What you actually get.

Live testing the new consumer unit — every RCBO is timing-tested before the customer takes possession.

Technical depth

Dual-RCD vs full-RCBO, surge protection, and what 18th Edition actually requires

There are two protection layouts on a modern domestic consumer unit. Dual-RCD splits the circuits into two banks behind two 30mA RCDs — cheaper, but a single fault still drops half the house. Full-RCBO gives every circuit its own combined MCB+RCD, so a fault on one circuit only takes that circuit out. We fit full-RCBO as standard now because the cost difference is £80–£150 and the lived experience is dramatically better, especially in homes with freezers, fish tanks, or anyone working from home.

Surge Protection Devices (SPDs) became mandatory under 18th Edition Amendment 2 for most domestic installations, certainly any with electronic equipment connected. We fit Type 2 SPDs at the consumer unit, which clamps transient over-voltage from lightning or grid switching down to safe levels. Without one, a single nearby strike can take out every connected device in the house.

The other things 18th Edition asks for: AFDDs (arc-fault detection devices) on bedroom and certain 'high risk' circuits where requested by the designer, RCD protection on every circuit (not just sockets), and metal enclosure throughout. We discuss whether AFDDs are worth specifying on your particular property at the survey — they are not yet mandatory in domestic, but they are for HMOs and care premises.

Scope	Typical price (incl. VAT)	Notes
Standard 6-way dual-RCD upgrade	£550 – £700	Smaller flats and 2-bed homes.
Full-RCBO 10-way (typical 3-bed)	£750 – £950	Our most fitted spec.
12–16 way RCBO with SPD + AFDDs	£950 – £1,400	Larger homes, home offices, EV-ready outlets included.
Plus remedial work (per circuit)	£40 – £180	If pre-test flags faults, we quote them separately before starting.

What changes the price

• Number of circuits in the existing board
• Whether dual-RCD or full-RCBO is specified
• Whether AFDDs are added (typical surcharge £25–£40 per circuit)
• Cable condition at the consumer unit (older Henley blocks may need re-terminating)
• Whether the supply head needs DNO isolation (rarely an extra in Nottingham, but possible)

The person responsible

Joshua Richardson & Benjamin Clurow

Co-Directors

NICEIC Approved Contractor, NICEIC Part-P Domestic Installer

Joshua Richardson and Benjamin Clurow co-founded JBRC Ltd and are the two named directors at Companies House (#17015285). They jointly run the business — both surveying, pricing and signing off consumer unit upgrades across Nottingham, so every customer is dealing directly with a director from quote through to certification.

Recent jobs

Real fuseboard replacement work, recently signed off.

1980s plastic Wylex board → 12-way full-RCBO + SPD, Mapperley NG3.

Fitted 9am–2pm, EICR upgraded from Unsatisfactory to Satisfactory same day.

Mapperley, Nottingham

Pre-EV-charger upgrade in Edwalton: 6-way → 14-way RCBO with EV-ready spare.

Charger booked in 2 weeks later — straight onto the new spare way.

Edwalton, West Bridgford

BS 3036 rewireable fuses → 10-way RCBO, retired couple's bungalow, Arnold.

First proper protection in 40 years. Insurer renewal cleared on the certificate alone.

Arnold, Nottingham